Last-gasp Donovan fires USA into final 16

USA scored a dramatic injury-time winner in Pretoria to secure a 1-0 victory that sees them qualify for the Round of 16 as winners of Group C. It looked as if the Americans would be going home early after they missed a number of openings with Algeria goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi in stubborn form.

USA were sitting in third place as the 90 minute-mark ticked by but everything changed in the blink of an eye as Landon Donovan led one last attack. Jozy Altidore squared the ball into the danger zone, where M'Bolhi beat it away, but Donovan was able to latch onto the loose ball and passed it into an empty net, before being submerged among a sea of white shirts. It was the least Bob Bradley's team deserved, having also had a Clint Dempsey effort disallowed for offside, struck a post and seen Altidore pass up a glorious opening. Frustration for Algeria was evident as captain Anther Yahia was sent off in the dying seconds for a second yellow card.

The African side, who also needed to win to give themselves a chance of going through, made the more positive start with Karim Matmour unleashing an attempt on goal in the opening seconds before Rafik Djebbour aimed a hooked shot against the crossbar. It was a decent attempt from the centre-forward, who took the ball on his chest, but the woodwork came to USA's rescue. Djebbour tried again shortly after, from a wider angle, but his drive was always heading wide. The Americans answered in kind, with Dempsey and Herculez Gomez – one of three changes in Bradley's line-up – failing to keep their efforts on target.

It was an open, entertaining tussle, reflecting both sides' need to win the game. Gradually, USA were beginning to dominate possession and create openings. In the 21st minute, they had the ball in the back of the net but their joy was quickly extinguished when Dempsey was ruled offside, as he applied the final touch after Gomez's shot was diverted to him. That, at least, encouraged Bradley's team to think a breakthrough might not be far away, and they kept pouring forward. Donovan slid a lovely ball into Dempsey but Mbolhi did well to smother it. Two minutes later, the Americans were back to cause more panic in the Algeria penalty area. Bradley set up Donovan and when he could not turn it home the ball fell nicely for Altidore, but a heavy swing of his right boot sent the ball careering into the seats behind the goal.

For their part, the African side looked dangerous whenever Nadir Belhadj or Karim Ziani were on the ball. At the end of the first half, Ziani cut in from the left to position himself for the shot but was unable to keep it on target. USA were cursing their luck again in the second period as Dempsey followed up after Altidore had made ground with a strong run. The Fulham forward shaped a bending shot with his right that came back off the post, then gathered the rebound, only to shoot wide with his left foot with the goalkeeper still scrambling into position.

Both sides had let-offs in the 68th minute. Mbolhi came to Algeria's rescue again, parrying a close-range header from substitute Edson Buddle before jumping on the loose ball. The Africans immediately went down the other end, where a decent scoring chance for Ziani went the wrong side of the upright. Chances kept coming at either end and it came down to Donovan to at last make one count.

Ticket4Football.com is the most specialized and fully dedicated football ticket website offering the best place to buy all Algeria World Cup Tickets. You can buy World Cup Final Tickets , World Cup Semi Final Tickets and World Cup Quarter Final Tickets online through our secure and guaranteed online booking system. You can also sell World Cup Football Tickets here!. Ticket4Football offers 100% safe and secure online booking system for World Cup 2010 tickets.

Algeria frustrate toothless England

Algeria held England to a goalless draw in the Group C encounter in Cape Town, leaving both sides still with a chance of qualification for the Round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup™. Although most of the play was dominated by England, it was the north Africans, 22 places below Fabio Capello's men in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, who were the happier of the two teams at the final whistle

All the talk pre-match surrounded Capello's starting XI, with the Italian selecting David James in favour of Robert Green, the keeper culpable for Clint Dempsey's equaliser against USA. Out too went James Milner for the fit-again Gareth Barry, while Jamie Carragher deputised for the injured Ledley King. The early signs were encouraging for England who began pressing from the first whistle. Their passing certainly looked crisper than during last Saturday's 1-1 draw in Rustenburg and they created several good chances during a first half, that while ending goalless, had plenty of entertainment value.

England captain Steven Gerrard had the game's first real opportunity when he almost caught Rais Mbolhi out with a dipping shot. Then Emile Heskey rose highest from Barry's inswinging corner from the right, but failed to direct his header on target. The patient build-up, all too infrequent in the Three Lions' last performance, was proving beneficial. Yet it was by no means one-way traffic. Algeria fired their first warning shot when Karim Ziani's cross found Hassan Yebda, whose back-header landed comfortably into the grasp of James. Karim Matmour and Ziani also had attempts on goal during a point midway through the opening 45 minutes as the Desert Foxes enjoyed a territorial advantage.

England came to life again thanks to the prompting of Wayne Rooney, who dropped deeper to increase his influence. A move begun by the Manchester United man saw Aaron Lennon find Frank Lampard who forced Mbolhi into a scrambling one-handed save from 12 yards. Barry and Rooney both tested the keeper on the stroke of half time, but Algeria had more than earned parity at the break.

Only some sublime defending from Madjid Bougherra denied Gerrard a clear scoring opportunity after the interval, when Rooney's intelligent flick-on seemed destined to set up the Liverpool midfielder. As time ticked on, though, England's frustrations at those missed opportunities grew, never more so than when Gerrard himself passed the ball straight at an Algeria defender, with Rooney and Lampard lurking in the box.

That said, it took a last-gasp intervention from Rafik Halliche to prevent England from taking the lead. Gerrard fed Heskey in the box and with the striker's shot apparently destined to hit the target or at least present Rooney with the simplest of tap-ins, the defender's outstretched leg deflected the ball over the bar. From the resulting corner, taken by Lampard, Gerrard's bullet header was claimed at the first attempt by Mbolhi. England were knocking at the door, but just not finding an answer. Either that, or they were finding the door firmly closed in their face by Bougherra, who was simply outstanding at the heart of the defence.

But the England fans, who made up the majority of the crowd at the Green Point stadium cared little of the merits of the opposition and showed their frustration by booing a wayward Lampard effort and again when the full-time whistle went. Capello, on the occasion of his 64th birthday, left the arena with his head bowed, as did the majority of the England players. It all comes down to the final group matches with England playing current section leaders Slovenia in Port Elizabeth and USA facing Algeria in Pretoria.

Ticket4Football.com is the most specialized and fully dedicated football ticket website offering the best place to buy all Algeria World Cup Tickets. You can buy World Cup Final Tickets , World Cup Semi Final Tickets and World Cup Quarter Final Tickets online through our secure and guaranteed online booking system. You can also sell World Cup Football Tickets here!. Ticket4Football offers 100% safe and secure online booking system for World Cup 2010 tickets.

Slovenia sneak win to go top

Robert Koren's 79th-minute goal handed Slovenia a 1-0 win over 10-man Algeria on Sunday in Polokwane for their first-ever FIFA World Cup™ victory. Following the US and England's 1-1 draw the night before in Rustenburg, the Slovenians jumped to the top of Group C at a boisterous Peter Mokaba Stadium, which also witnessed second-half substitute Abdelkader Ghezzal sent off after just 15 minutes on the pitch.

A mostly cagey but hard-fought affair was settled by the West Bromwich Albion man from a seemingly innocuous shot that bounded past the out-of-sorts Algerian goalkeeper, Faouzi Chaouchi. The two teams packed their midfields and looked to hit on the counter-attack or via dead-ball situations, but Algeria's Nadir Belhadj was the main instigator of attacking football from his left back position. In just the third minute, the Portsmouth player unleashed one of his trademark free-kicks, which seemed destined to dip under the crossbar, but goalkeeper Samir Handanovic was able to punch the 20-yard blast over his bar.

The sides continued to feel each other out until around the half-hour mark when the north Africans seemed to gain in confidence, spurred on by the majority of travelling supporters and the South Africans in attendance as well. In the 34th minute, Belhadj won a free-kick down the left and then sent in a dangerous cross. From the resulting corner, which was sent in well by Karim Ziani, Rafik Halliche rose highest and looked certain to score, but he headed agonisingly wide.

However, Slovenia's Valter Birsa had perhaps the best chance of the opening period just before the break. But his 25-yard rocket after a quick turn was acrobatically tipped over the crossbar by Chaouchi.

After the half-time interval, the two teams continued to battle it out in the middle of the park, but Andraz Kirm looked like opening the accounts just after the hour mark. He found himself alone on the left side of the box after some nice build-up, but his shot was right at the goalkeeper.

Algeria brought on Ghezzal for the tiring Rafik Djebbour, but a quick yellow card set him up for disaster as he received another caution in the 73rd minute for bringing down the ball in the box with his arm. Despite going down to 10 men, Algeria almost took the lead when Slovenia goalkeeper Samir Handanovic was too lax with a pass and slid it straight into the path of Ziani. But the Udinese netminder scrambled to cover the ball bravely at his feet.

In the end, the extra man did not do much for Slovenia, but Budweiser Man of the Match Koren hit his shot well from the edge of the area. Chaouchi seemed to be well-placed to save the shot, but to the shock of the colourful supporters from Algeria, the ball bulged the back of the net.

Slovenia next meet USA in Johannesburg's Ellis Park on 18 June, while Algeria will try to rebound against group favourites England the same day in Cape Town.

Ticket4Football.com is the most specialized and fully dedicated football ticket website offering the best place to buy all Algeria World Cup Tickets. You can buy World Cup Final Tickets , World Cup Semi Final Tickets and World Cup Quarter Final Tickets online through our secure and guaranteed online booking system. You can also sell World Cup Football Tickets here!. Ticket4Football offers 100% safe and secure online booking system for World Cup 2010 tickets.

1990–2008: The walk through the desert

Having won an African Nations Cup title, the Algerian team, however, had not managed to qualify for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. In 1991, the national team won the Afro-Asian Cup of Nations against Iran. As title holders, Algeria disappointed at the 1992 African Nations Cup in Senegal, recording a loss against Côte d'Ivoire (3–0) and a draw against Congo (1–1, with a goal by Nacer Bouiche). In 1994, Algeria was disqualified from the 1994 African Nations Cup in Tunisia due to the use of an ineligible player and failed during the 1994 World Cup qualifiying.

In 1996, Algeria returned to African Cup of Nations, but were eliminated by hosts South Africa in the quarter-finals. The Algerians failed to qualify for the following World Cups in 1998, 2002 and 2006. During the 1998 African Cup of Nations, Algeria finished last in its group with three defeats and was eliminated in the group stage. In the 2000 African Cup of Nations, the Fennecs managed to pass to the first round only to lose to Cameroon (2–1). Algeria once more failed to pass the first round in the African competition in 2002 but managed to get to the quarter-finals in 2004; however, they were eliminated by Morocco by a score of 3–1 after extra-time (the lone Algerian goal was scored by Abdelmalek Cherrad. Algeria failed to qualify for the following two Africa Cup of Nations in 2006 and 2008.

Ticket4Football.com is the most specialized and fully dedicated football ticket website offering the best place to buy all World Cup Tickets. You can buy World Cup Final Tickets , World Cup Semi Final Tickets and World Cup Quarter Final Tickets online through our secure and guaranteed online booking system. You can also sell World Cup Football Tickets here!. Ticket4Football offers 100% safe and secure online booking system for World Cup 2010 tickets.